Borderland Beat

CBP officers seized a teddy bear that was filled with 10 bundles of marijuana.

El Paso Tx - Customs and Border Protection officers seized 1,384 pounds of marijuana in 12 seizures this weekend, including marijuana hidden in a teddy bear and a hollowed-out television set, CBP officials said.

Officers found over 10 pounds of marijuana stuffed inside a large teddy bear on Saturday afternoon. A 45-year-old Juarez man who was crossing the Paso del Norte bridge said he was going to deliver the stuffed animal to a sick relative, officials said. The man, who was not identified, was turned over to the El Paso Police Department.

Earlier on Saturday, CBP officers at the Paso del Norte bridge also found nearly 26 pounds of marijuana hidden inside a hollowed-out television set. Officials said a drug sniffing dog alerted officers to a television on the backseat of a Mazda 626. The driver, a 32-year-old man from Juarez, was taken into custody by El Paso police. His name was not released.

Bundles of marijuana were found inside a television set at the Paso del Norte bridge.

The largest seizure of the weekend was at the Bridge of the Americas on Saturday. A drug sniffing dog alerted officers to a Ford Expedition. The driver appeared nervous during questioning, and officers discovered 215 bundles of marijuana weighing 440 pounds in the ceiling, seats and floor of the vehicle, CBP officials said.

CBP officers arrested the driver, 57-year-old Ramon Armando Jimenez-Marquez of Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, Mexico. He was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to face federal charges in connection with the failed smuggling attempt.

Categories: border, war on drugs